*This post was written and posted on my original website in December 2017

Introduction

I published my very first novel, The Guardians of Eastgate: Seers Book 1, in the summer of 2017. It was officially released for sale on all online platforms on August 30^th. During the process of getting that first edition out to the public, and since then, I have learned a lot. And I’ve learned enough to know that there is still a lot more left to learn. It’s a never-ending process. I say ‘never-ending’ because there are always new things happening in the world of indie publishing.

In order to help other authors who are starting out and thinking about self-publishing, I decided to start writing this blog series. In it, I will tell you about the things I’ve discovered while stumbling my way through the dark.

When I finished writing my first manuscript, I knew I would need it edited, formatted for print and eBook, and so on. Really, though, I was aware there was a lot to be done, but I didn’t know what it all was, or how to go about doing it. So, I searched online for help. 

In this first post, I will talk to you about what I’ve learned concerning traditional publishing, assisted self-publishing, and self-publishing.

Traditional Publishing

To have your book traditionally published, you would usually start with querying agents until you find one to represent you and your book. This process can take some time, and a number of rejections. Your agent will then query relevant publishing houses until they find one or more who would like to take on your book. This step can, again, take some time. Then you and your agent have to negotiate a deal with the publisher.

Some benefits of traditional publishing:

• The publisher takes on the cost of publishing the book
• They provide editors, cover designers, and pretty much every other service you’d need to go from manuscript to published book
• It is the publisher who takes on the risks of investing in a book that may or may not make back the initial capitol

Sounds great, right? Especially if you are a new author who can’t afford to carry all the costs, or if you neither have the time nor the knowledge to search for the talent and services you need to get your book into Amazon or other retailers.

Well, it can be great, but there is also a flip side.

• The publishing company will claim up to 70% or more of the royalties
• The publishing house will retain the copyright for your book for the length of the contract
• The publishing house will have creative control over your book. Depending on the publisher, you may have very little say in the creative decisions that are made regarding your book.
• Manuscripts can end up on an editors “slush pile” for months–even years–before they have the opportunity to look at them.
• If your manuscript is rejected, you may never know why. But it could be for a reason such as which genre is hot in the marketplace at the moment, or how many other manuscripts they’ve already taken on in your genre. It isn’t always about your story and how good (or bad) it is.
• It may take a long time and many rejections before you find a publishing company willing to take on your book. Did you know that Harry Potter was rejected 12 times before J.K. Rowling finally found a publisher for her book? And look where she is today.

There are two morals to that story. First, expect to have to wait some time and make many queries before you find an agent, and then a publisher, to take you on. Second, never give up!

Assisted self-publishing

Assisted self-publishing can be beneficial to writers who have money to put into their book, but do not know where to find the services and talent they need to get it published. In many cases for new authors, they may not know which services they need, and at what points in the project.

For assisted self-publishing, the author pays for the editing, cover design, formatting. The company provides the talent and services you need, for a fee (on top of what those services normally cost).

If you decide to go this route, you need to be very careful. There are a number of scam companies out there, so make sure to do your research before signing on with one. If they claim royalties from your book or set themselves up to be the copyright holder, they are not a true assisted self-publishing company, and you should look elsewhere.

The benefits of assisted self-publishing include:

• You will not need to do all the legwork required to find editors, cover designers, and so on. The company will set you up with the services you need.
• Many companies offer packages, so you can choose which services you want, and/or which you can afford.
• You retain the copyright for your work.
• All the royalties (up to 70% or more, depending on the platform you publish on) will go to you.

The drawbacks of using an assisted self-publishing company include:

• There are many dishonest companies out there, so it’s difficult to know who to trust.
• You pay extra for having someone manage your project for you.
• They can be quite expensive.
• You may never get to have 1-on-1 interactions with the people working on your project, like the editors, cover designers, and so on. Usually, everything must go through the project manager.

Self-Publishing

With self-publishing, it is the author who finds and pays for editors, formatters, book cover designers, and so on. It is also the author who chooses which platform(s) to publish to, and then to publish the book.

The benefits to self-publishing include:

• You retain full creative control of your book project.
• You keep all of the royalties, aside from the small portion claimed by the publishing platform (such as Amazon). In other words, you can claim up to 70% or more of the royalties for your book.
• You learn a lot in self-publishing a book, so publishing future books becomes easier.
• This is the cheapest option, and can cost you very little, depending on where you look for the services you need.

The disadvantages to self-publishing include:

• There is a huge learning-curve for new authors who are self-publishing for the first time.
• The author must figure out who to hire and when.
• All the costs are paid for by the author.
• You can end up paying more than necessary in the early stages, as you don’t know where to look for services, how to do any of the steps yourself, and so on.
• This can be a long and daunting process for new self-publishing authors.

Luckily, there are many more resources for authors these days than there were even a couple of years ago. Platforms like Amazon and IngramSpark have libraries of articles and videos to help their authors through the publishing process.

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In my next post, I will take a deeper dive into the world of self-editing. With that article, I will provide a list of websites and resources created specifically for independent publishers, so you will have an idea of where to start should you choose to go the self-publishing route.